I have a virtually new 8" soft felt polishing wheel that has a gouge in it, probably 1/4 inch deep. Is there a method that I can shave that wheel down to get rid of the gouge and save the wheel?

Bill Jacobs

Get it running and hit it with a belt sander or a coarse file. It's going to make one hell of a mess though. Fuzz for fawking miles. I'd throw it away.

Hit it with a rasp, Bill. I do that so often to mine if I;m changing from one rouge to another. LIke Chucker said- 1/4" is pretty deep; it might be a gonner.

felt wheel? man, those can go for a bit of money.. 70-100 bucks on brownells.

and if *I* had a brand new wheel with a gouge/cut in it, this is what I would like do..

this is completely conjecture, btw - and if it doesn't work, i am sorry -- be careful cutting, as this is dangerous

set up a depth scribe to mark the wheel all the way around slightly deeper than gouge, then chase that mark with a sharpie v- repeat on both sides

cut away the extra material- this will be a PITA, but can be done with a razor knife and a couple blades...

TAKE YOUR TIME in doing this

then hit it with a rasp to level it out..

What if you set a block plane to a shallow cut and applied it while running the wheel?

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
What if you set a block plane to a shallow cut and applied it while running the wheel?

Sounds kinda scary, but it might just work.

Do you have something like a 6X48 belt sander, or large disk sander?

I'd be tempted to make a jig out of a board with a dowel or something in it that fits the arbor hole of the wheel, then sand a flat spot in your wheel until you get the gouge all gone. Turn off the sander, put your wheel over the jig arbor, adjust it so the flat spot meets up with the sanding belt or disk, then clamp the board down. Turn the sander on and slowly rotate your buffing wheel until the circumference is all sanded off and hopefully it is not too out of round.

Don't do it with an expensive cabnet finishing file...#50, it will destroy the file. Don't ask how I know!

Using any kind of grind/sander type devise always leaves a chance of a grit remaining in the wheel. One stray 60 grit is hell on a pink no scratch finish!
I use a pieces of 16 tooth bandsaw blade to shave it.
Speer is right; big mess. Have your shop vac right under the wheel to get a lot of it.
Two cents worth.
mike

OK, I have no idea if this would work or not, but something like Jeffe said. Chuck it in the lathe, I would do it in my wood lathe, and "part" it off with a very sharp parting tool.
Don't know, just a thought.

I say throw it away !

a sharp blade on spinning wheel can grab that blade and rip you up a tad, seen it happen..I would use a hand belt sander and coarse paper, turn on the wheel and sander and sand the felt until the gap is removed. It works Ok, but use like 60 grt. paper on the hand sanding belt.

I had a 10" medium wheel that I couldn't get to balance right. New bearings in the buffer and I tried everything I could think of. Finally I hit on using a big grinder with a course concrete grinding wheel on it. These are cup wheels about 7 inches in diameter and close to 3" thick. Trued it right up pronto. Wear a face mask so you don't breathe the stuff coming off. Also, the heavier the grinder the better. Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
What if you set a block plane to a shallow cut and applied it while running the wheel?

then the block catches and ends up in your gut at 100mph. not fun.

If your buffer is traveling at 2600 RPM, you are going to lose close to 2000 SFPM which is just going to mean hours more in polishing time, polish, smoke and aggravation after you knock 1/4 inch off of it.

quote:

you are going to lose close to 2000 SFPM which is just going to mean hours more in polishing time

Yep reduce from 65,312inch/minute to 61,230. Or about 6% so for every hour you used to stand at the wheel it will now be about 64 minutes.

Don't know if you would really see it. But I know I saw a HUGE difference between my 8" and 6" wheels.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:

quote:

you are going to lose close to 2000 SFPM which is just going to mean hours more in polishing time

Yep reduce from 65,312inch/minute to 61,230. Or about 6% so for every hour you used to stand at the wheel it will now be about 64 minutes.

Don't know if you would really see it. But I know I saw a HUGE difference between my 8" and 6" wheels.

On polishes that cut it takes a lot more pressure, your head wears off quicker, loads quicker, work piece heats up quicker and your polishing gets more orphan valleys in it. Where you really notice the difference is in polishes that move metal rather than cut it. Big 10 or 12 inch wheels require no effort at all and burnish quickly. Where as little 6 and 8 inch wheels will seem more like a torture session than a polishing session.

SFPM is your bestestestest buddy. No amount of brawn and perseverance can replace big wheels.

quote:

Where as little 6 and 8 inch wheels will seem more like a torture session than a polishing session.

When I did bluing I had 6" wheels for my coarser compounds. Had an 8" hard for the high gloss polish. Bought everything from a guy going out of business. Quickly found the larger wheels worked FAR better. Extra $$ were few and far between so I made due. But, was lucky enough to pass all my pain on to someone else that wanted into the bluing business.

In my younger days I would have probably tried to sand it down. Now in my old days I'd pitch it and buy a new one.